


Halftime

by Bravelikesoldiers (1929)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Destiel - Freeform, Domestic, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Questionable destiel, Sam POV, sam has always known, subtle Destiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-01
Updated: 2014-08-01
Packaged: 2018-02-11 07:10:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2058756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1929/pseuds/Bravelikesoldiers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam was observant. For Dean's sake, however, he pretended he wasn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Halftime

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Supernatural. Title taken from "American Pie" by Don McLean: "Now the halftime air was sweet perfume..."

Sam pretended not to notice. 

It was, after all, his brother's masculinity that was at stake, and Dean Winchester's masculinity (much like his father's) was not to be questioned. Motel room incidents aside, there was normally no doubt that Dean liked women. Years on the road and braking for bars had taught Sam that. However, he thought as he brooded over his morning coffee, there was that time Dean hooked up with Anna, so maybe Dean just had an angel fetish. 

Or maybe it was a Cas thing. 

It was hard to say, hard to say, Sam reasoned, sipping complacently as he watched Dean and Cas from the motel room's tiny kitchenette. The angel was in full bloom, smiling softly as Dean guffawed over what was probably some idiotic joke the hunter had told. Cas didn't seem to mind. He rarely laughed, but sometimes he smiled, and Dean was - for lack of a better word - radiant when that happened. There was something comforting to be found in making an angel smile, Sam supposed, though he suspected that wasn't entirely the case. 

The staring was ever apparent, even now, as Dean and Cas shared a quiet moment over the research Sam had completed the night before. More than once, Sam had wondered if Castiel was communicating with Dean telepathically, but Sam dismissed the notion after a few weeks of being in their company. It seemed that they simply mesmerized each other, which was nothing short of adorable, but Sam was a good brother, and he said nothing. Besides, he had no concrete evidence. Dean and Castiel had never kissed in front of Sam, nor had he ever - absent God forbid - walked in on them. But Dean's warnings about personal space were getting increasingly half-hearted, and Sam hadn't seen Cas actually step back in months. And still, he had those moments he'd taken mental snapshots of, moments like this, where Dean and Cas gazed at each other in subdued reverence, the Hell-scarred Righteous Man and his broken angel. 

Of course, they still argued, and Sam always thought, "This is what it must feel like when your parents fight in front of you." Sam had never had that, growing up, but he thought maybe this was as close as he was going to get - his older brother turning away with a shake of his head from a seething Castiel. Sam had bore witness to their spats many times, and always it awakened something small and frightened inside of him. He never felt so ridiculous as he did when Dean was drinking himself stupid at a bar and Castiel remained standing stock-still, staring at the door, and Sam felt the urge to ask the angel if he was going to leave him and Dean. 

Cas never did, not for long, and for that Sam was grateful. It was enough to feel childish and scared without having to deal with Dean's pining. Not that anyone else would recognize what Dean did as pining - booze and women was the Winchester way. That didn't change the fact that Sam always felt a second-hand sense of wrong and more than once had to stop himself from telling on his brother via prayer. But if Dean always came home after last call, Sam wasn't saying anything. 

He couldn't bring himself to call them out on whatever it was they were doing, to smirk and say it was obvious when Dean spluttered and Cas tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. Sam wouldn't be the one to ruin it. Dean Winchester and Castiel - now, that was an unstoppable team. They'd never get away from each other; they had been through too much together, and Castiel was basically an honorary Winchester now, co-dependence and all. But Dean and Cas were fragile, and breakable, and it was best to let them float in their bubble, undisturbed. The Winchesters and their angel would never leave each other, never for good, but Sam knew too well that there were ways to hide from someone in the same room. He wouldn't be the one to start that game, and he'd be damned if he let anyone else.

Dean was happier than he had been in too long, and if Cas was the cause of it? Well, Sam pretended not to notice.


End file.
